Apartments are under construction in Rockville on the Silverwood property that was annexed into the city amid legal wrangling in 2011.

The Bainbridge Companies LLC has planned 417 mid-rise apartments on Frederick Road near the Shady Grove Metro station. Josh Wooldridge, senior development director for Bainbridge, said he anticipates construction will begin July 15 and take about a year and a half.

Even though the project is at the last stop on Metro’s red line, Wooldridge said the apartments are just a close walk away from transit.

“It’s only about 800 feet to the Metro platform,” he said. “At Shady Grove, in the morning, there’s always a train there waiting for you.”

The site, sometimes known as the Silverwood property, was formerly home to Reed Brothers Automotive. Rockville’s mayor and council voted to annex the property in October 2011, but a group of King Farm residents opposed the initial plans for residential and retail development over concerns about increased traffic, The Gazette previously reported.

Former Rockville Mayor Larry Giammo filed a petition for judicial review of the decision, saying the city did not follow its own adequate public facilities ordinance in approving the development. King Farm resident Cathy Scott also opposed the development because she believed the remains of one of her ancestors might be buried on the property.

The petition was later dismissed.

Plans for Bainbridge Shady Grove include apartments with a pool, billiards, fitness facility, conference center, fire pit and a 477-space parking garage. Plans call for a six-story apartment building on the 4.37-acre property along Frederick Road with five stories at the back of the building, Wooldridge said.

The “ultra-luxury” apartments will come in a variety of sizes, but average about 830 square feet, he said. At $2 to $2.25 per square foot, that works out to a range of $1,660 to $1,860 for an average apartment.

Developers decided not to include retail space to avoid competing with King Farm Village Center on the other side of Frederick Road, according to a site plan filed with the City of Rockville. Wooldridge said the project was approved with space where retail could be added in the future, but the lack of surface parking and foot traffic does not make it feasible at this time.